This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

If United We Stand then Winner-Takes-All is Divide-And-Conquer

Dear residents of Plymouth,

My name is Andy Schuler, you may have met me or one of our campaign volunteers (wearing our "bee" t-shirts) at the Plymouth Library, or while door knocking around the neighborhood during the last week of May. Instead of criticizing a system which makes it very difficult for ‘third parties’ to be printed on the ballot, this letter is about making all votes count by implementing proportional representation.

 

Find out what's happening in Plymouthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

To the hundreds of you who showed appreciation for representative democracy by signing my petition I would like to say thank you for the courage to embrace the concept of an additional choice on the ballot. It is choosing to allow free thinking over the limits of just two domineering political agendas, often funded by the same private interests.

 

Find out what's happening in Plymouthwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

For over a decade district 44a has been split 49/51, leaving half of the voters without a voice in the State House. Neither major party has offered a solution to this common imbalance in our archaic "winner-takes-all" electoral system. Many Democrats and Republicans who refused to sign claimed I would "steal" votes or “spoil” the election, even when they agreed that election outcomes should be in proportion to the number of votes a candidate earns. This proves that our current system is flawed as voters are willing to compromise values for fear that the winner with 51% of the vote will reside on the opposite side of ‘the fence’. The lesser of the two evils becomes the tyranny of the two lessors.

 

Regardless of any disagreements we may share, every voting taxpayer should be allowed to make their voice heard in government.

 

The Ecology Democracy Party seeks to implement proportional representation in the Minnesota House. For example, if your party receives 5% of the vote, they earn 5% of the seats in the legislature. Under our current system, 49% of the voters in our district are being represented by someone they actually voted against! Not only is proportional representation a more equitable voting system, but it also reduces "wasted" votes, increases voter turnout, and eliminates the "spoiler" phenomena.

 

Regardless of your political leanings, I implore you to demand proportional representation as a major issue to your party platform. Please help us move forward together, by strengthening the democratic integrity of our Republic.

 

Sincerely,

 

Andy Schuler

Ecology Democracy Party chair

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Plymouth